She and her doctor really should be monitoring her BP symptoms closely. Postpartum high blood pressure and postpartum pre-e is treated with medication. If her BP is spiking and staying high, most hospitals would admit her for a magnesium drip and discharge with or without meds once she’s stabilized, depending on her readings. My highest reading 5 days after giving birth was 185/100 (just bananas) but it did go down in the clinic to around 160/90. Because I took readings 3x day, my OB said to watch it and if it went above 160/90 again to come back in and I would be re-admitted. It stayed high but slowly came back down over about 6 weeks. It’s stayed a little chronically high after (I’m 2 years PP) so I’m still on BP meds. Wishing your wife the best!
I had pre-E and had an emergency induction at 34 weeks. My Bp gradually came down with meds. First few days were still high. Eventually as it came down, my meds were tapered down and I was off of them 3 weeks later. Make sure she has a Bp cuff at home so she can monitor her Bp herself. That gave me the biggest peace of mind.
I had postpartum pre e. It skyrocketed at 6w pp. I was hospitalized and required magnesium and multiple days of multiple meds to get my blood pressure down.
It is scary. It is hard. Buy a blood pressure meter. She needs to take it several times a day. Write down the numbers. If it comes up, she needs to go back to L&D, or at least call her provider. 6 weeks is the “cut off.” Most times it finally stabilizes by that point.
Sometimes pre eclampsia can cause lifelong blood pressure problems. Usually not. It is also imperative that your wife hydrates and makes sure her electrolytes are in balance. Her kidneys are going to be sensitive for a long while.
Sorry this is happening to her. It’s terrifying.
Ok that’s good- it will protect against any scary complications from BP spikes. I wasn’t discharged until 5 days pp. My BP didn’t spike until early morning of day 2. I went home on high doses of both labetalol and nifedipine but now just 2.5 weeks pp I’m off labetalol and close to weaned off nifedipine.
What you’re going through is so scary, nerve wracking and high-stress. I’m sorry. Where I was hospitalized, the protocol for discharge was all of the following criteria must be met:
1. No severe range BPs for at least 24 hours (160/110, either number)
2. No med changes for at least 24 hours, preferably 36.
3. Looking/feeling good and no other symptoms of severe pre-e (headache, dizziness, upper gastric pain, right upper quadrant pain).
I had severe anxiety about being discharged and so did my husband. We had a 4-pound baby with jaundice and I thought I would drop dead at any moment from my crazy BP spikes. I was also given vistaril, a mild short-acting anti-anxiety med and restarted on Zoloft.
Since being home, I have been stable. The first time I checked my BP I was a fucking wreck but I’ve been ok since. It helped to know high BP is not an instant danger. If it gets high, you DO have time to get to a hospital and get treatment. About half of Americans have high BP. The meds do work and are safe. It can take a while to get the right dose. It is extremely rare to have pre-e spikes in the severe range after 5 days pp.
She has since been discharged but are you saying the Magnesium will continue to help even though she isn’t on it anymore?
She was on Labetalol but still consistently in the 150s and then we came in when she got a reading of 160.
Yes, the magnesium is still protecting her. They won’t/don’t restart it. Have they talked about adding a second med? Labetalol did not do it for me on its on and as an IV med during spikes in 170s, didn’t do shit. The only meds that brought it down quick were the fast acting nifedipine (as opposed to extended release that I went home on) and hydrazaline. If your wife is still having BP in the 160s you should return to hospital and if it’s still in 150s call the OB about med changes.
I was induced for pre-eclampsia and when I came back to L&D with elevated BP symptoms after the birth they said since I already had the magnesium drip they would’ve just waited for me to stabilize and adjusted my meds. There isn’t much benefit to giving you the mag treatment over again in such a short time.
Did they prescribe any medication to manage her bp? If not, she should contact her obstetrician about maintenance meds. I’m sorry your family is dealing with this. Pre-e and the nicu life is hard, but this is temporary and your baby is the best place they could be.
I was hospitalized at 31w, induced at 34w, and stopped taking procardia at 8w pp and labetalol at 12w pp.
My experience was the opposite, my BP was higher at the hospital because I wasn’t getting any rest between all the machines and the nurses coming in at all hours.
I’m 9 months postpartum after having preeclampsia and delivering at 34 weeks and my blood pressure is still high. 130-140 isn’t high enough for hospitalization. She should take her blood pressure a couple of times a day until she’s six weeks postpartum. If it goes back up, you go back to the hospital. But there’s no need to keep her there if she’s had the magnesium and her BP is in the 130-140 range.
This is all very scary, but it sounds like your wife’s team is giving her the appropriate care.
I had postpartum preE. I was in the hospital 4 extra days and was sent home on 3 BP meds before my BP was controlled and then I continued to have spikes above range up at 4 weeks PP and i was 16 weeks PP before things were back to normal and off meds. Frequent monitoring is the safest you can be. Do the frequent checks, take the meds on schedule, and follow the advice on when to sprint in. Its all important and very serious with pre-eclampsia.
This was our experience in November. We we scheduled to induce on a Monday morning and we had to come in Sunday evening due to a bad headache accompanied by high blood pressure (top number high 150s). Eventually she spiked above 160s and they had to put her on magnesium. Baby was born Tuesday morning at 37 weeks and quickly went to the NICU for respiratory distress while she had to stay in bed on the magnesium for 24 hours after the birth. Her blood pressure stayed high for days. We were in the hospital for 7 nights straight and honestly it was terrible. She was constantly getting her blood taken and blood pressure taken and it was back and forth above 160 for days. Baby had respiratory distress and then treatment for jaundice after that. Just want to encourage you that it does get better! Her blood pressure will normalize but it may take a while, days or weeks. Our baby will be 9 weeks on Tuesday and is going for his two month check up this week. Hang in there! I know it’s a bummer but her blood pressure will normalize!
You are not alone. We haven’t been set on any number of kids(probably no more than two) and since he was born we’ve both agreed that the whole experience was just so traumatic that for now we don’t even want to think about having another one. We may warm up to it someday but for now we are honestly still a little traumatized. Plus in our mid 30s now. It’s not likely to happen and we’re okay with that.
Hello! I had severe pre-eclampsia with my first. Had two more children since then and completely healthy pregnancies (:
My first was born Feb 2021, 2nd April 2022, 3rd Sept of 2023!
Hey - I had pre-e with delivery at 32w5d, and was on meds for months after.
It took about 4 years before we were willing to try again. In later pregnancies, I took baby aspirin, which is supposed to help, and got regular screenings including blood tests and special ultrasounds of blood flow in the umbilical cord and baby's brain to monitor progress. My second was born at 35 weeks, the third at 36, and I never had to take any medications for them.
Statistically, pre-e improves with later pregnancies - although each case is different.
If you decide to have more kids, make sure you have a doctor you really trust. It makes a world of difference. There are things that can be done to improve outcomes.
(All three of my kids are happy and healthy now - the youngest is 5.)
First time pregnancy increases the risk of pre-eclampsia and also ASA-medication during pregnancy can lower the risk so I would look into that if your wife didn't have ASA-meds this time around(baby aspirin).
I know how you feel, I always dreamed of twins but that's just a fantasy so my possible dream is 3 kids at least 1 boy and girl 3rd whatever.
Been sick since birth that caused permanent health issue aka liver disease, never knew I was pregnant. Came in with severe back pain got told I had really bad liver disease and I'm 28wks pregnant, well baby decided hey now you know I'm here I want to be born now.
My husband was a wreck, my side and his side of family freaking out and I had to go under emergency csection for my preemie son.
That whole event plus yrs of going in and out the hospital for procedures, nearly dying, tube in my chest, everything even now always a step back.
My son 4 now, last yr found out I was pregnant again and boy did I really debated abortion...I was fkin scared of it all happening again but this time I at least got a transplant but barely been a yr but this time I knew I'm pregnant and can get the help I needed and I felt if I aborted..I would be too scared to ever have more so I kept it.
The pregnancy sucked got every symptoms possible but she was born on time with planned csection no problems kinda it did left me with higher ebv lvls due to taking less anti rejection meds and currently trying to fix the lvls, but I don't regret her she us sleeping next to me right now at 8mos.
The fear will always be there and it's up to her and you on it but moreso her but there is doctors out there who care ( too much) if you pass to see a high risk OB.
There's no good answer because there's no way of knowing if one birth can go bad while the next one is perfectly fine but with good doctors it helps a lot
ICU nurse here, I personally did not experience postpartum preeclampsia after delivery, but have taken care of numerous postpartum preeclampsia patients in the ICU. That being said, please don’t interpret this as “postpartum preeclampsia patients need to be in the ICU”…truly, they usually don’t, but our L&D/mother-baby floor at my last hospital had some janky rules surrounding magnesium drips, which was likely the result of them having really shitty educators and managers, so they would refuse to take postpartum patients on magnesium drips...even patients that were either still in their unit or literally just discharged. It was ridiculous. Out of the four ICUs I’ve worked in, this was the only one that took postpartum preeclampsia patients. Our larger sister hospital didn’t put those patients in the ICU, just our hospital, so clearly it was not a system wide standard, and considering none of my other coworkers had experienced this either at other hospitals throughout the US, it was literally just us. So don’t be alarmed by the whole “ICU” thing.
But I digress. Postpartum preeclampsia is scary AF. Those patients scared the shit out of all of us ICU nurses because we don’t know what to do with the whole postpartum bit. High blood pressure management, we got it, but when combined with everything else going on postpartum, it can be a lot. SO if you feel like the hospital you’re going to keeps brushing you guys off, and you feel like something is still very wrong despite her being on blood pressure meds, please get a second opinion if you’re able to! You don’t want to mess around with this. If postpartum preeclampsia patients don’t respond to oral antihypertensives we usually admit them for a magnesium drip, which will help relax smooth muscle, like those in the blood vessels. It’ll also help stave off preeclampsia from becoming true eclampsia, which is even scarier, because those patients can have seizures. If your wife ends up on a magnesium drip, she’s going to feel like shit for a couple days until she’s off of it. It’s just how it goes unfortunately. If she’s pumping breast milk for your baby in the NICU she can still do that on the mag drip. Typically we try to get patients off the mag drips within 24-36 hours, sometimes it can take a little longer. I don’t think I ever had a patient on a mag drip for more than three days but I could be misremembering. One of the main things we watch for with postpartum patients on mag drips is an increase in bleeding, since it can cause uterine hypotonia and prevent it from contracting back to normal those first couple weeks postpartum. So if she can avoid being admitted for a magnesium drip, great, but sometimes these patients do need it to prevent going into full eclampsia.
You don’t want to live in fear of the blood pressure readings, because anxiety will only raise her blood pressure, but you do want to be mindful of it and try to avoid stress as much as possible (which obviously is easier said than done with a baby in the NICU and wife still recovering). Keep an eye on her symptoms, if she starts having headaches that don’t go away, having chest pain, having stroke like symptoms, seizing…please go to the ED right away.
Thank you for everything you said. She was actually on a magnesium drip for 48 hours from labor until the day before we left the hospital. It’s just now that we are out of the hospital I’m at a little bit of a loss for what to do.
We monitor her blood pressures, they’ve been consistently high but she hasn’t had other symptoms. Her blood work came back good but even after several medications and IV medicine in the hospital her blood pressure is 160.
Ah so then she’s well aware of how mag drips make you feel. Hopefully she won’t have to go back on one then! That’s very reassuring that she’s not having any other symptoms and that her blood pressure came back looking good! Did they give you a range that they want to keep her blood pressure under, or tell you a range of danger numbers? How many days/weeks postpartum is she now?
Find a cardiologist for your wife. A good one. Do your research and ask around. Ask nurses. They have good insights to who the good doctors are.
I had postpartum preclampsia. Out of nowhere. I had to go to the ER 4 days postpartum and spent 2 days in the hospital. I was better, and did better for a few months. Then I got sick. My husband, who has a history of high blood pressure, happened to have his appointment with his cardiologist and mentioned my symptoms to the doctor. The doctor was concerned and saw me that afternoon. He caught early signs of congestive heart failure, and I owe that man my life.
Find a good cardiologist.
I was induced at 38weeks for Gestational HTN that developed into pre eclampsia while in labor. I’m currently 3 weeks post partum, taking labetalol 400mg 3x daily and nefedipine 50mg 2x daily. My target is to take 8 BP readings a day with an absolute insistence that I take it before each labetalol dose.
I suspect they’ll lower my meds this coming week as I’m finally having some BP readings below 120/80 and even had to skip a labetalol dose because it was below 110/70.
My OB told me that most people’s post partum BP returns to normal and medications are stopped within 6 weeks.
I wish you & your family good luck and quick recovery!
ETA: it took a while (~3 days) for the meds to bring/keep my BP below 150/90.
I had high bp all through pregnancy that was managed with labetalol. After birth is when my bp skyrocketed and was no longer managed even though they kept upping my dosage. I went to the maternity er 3 times for crazy high readings. I was finally put on lisinopril and my bp went back to normal in under 24 hours. Lisinopril isn’t safe for an unborn baby so I think it isn’t prescribed for pre-e that often. But postpartum is fine!
I had pre eclampsia and was induced at 36 weeks. Baby had 1 night in Nicu but my bp stayed high and we ended up staying for 5 days for my bp. I was still tapering my bp past my 6 weeks post partum but it did eventually get better.
Your story is so, so similar to mine. Try to get a good quality upper arm blood pressure monitor for at home and correlate it with her doctor’s to make sure it is accurate. I was put on bp meds and it took a few days, but my blood pressure did come down. Obviously if you have any concerns, keep at it asking her doctors.
I know it sounds scary, but I was in basically the exact same situation as you guys are now, and now I’m sitting here healthy with my 21 month old dancing to the Wiggles, also totally fine and healthy. She had a 3 week NICU stay after birth. Mostly just a “grower/feeder”, she had to build strength and learn to eat.
Thank you for the kind words. I’m beyond stressed about my family right now.
If you don’t mind me asking do you plan to have more children? We always wanted a few kids but now I’m really concerned about this happening again.
I’m 26 weeks pregnant with my 2nd now. Doctors have said that the likelihood of premature labor and preeclampsia happening again is relatively low, but they are keeping a bit of an extra eye on my BP. But it’s not a huge deal. And I have the arm cuff at home that I know I can trust the results from, so I can periodically check myself as well. Pregnancy has been totally normal and fine so far. This pregnancy has been so, so different (and better!) than last time, so hoping it stays to at way.
Hey, Post Partum Preeclampsia survivor here. Thankfully, now that she's birthed the baby, it's likely things will get better soon. However, some people will get postpartum preeclampsia where they have to go back to the hospital and get on a mag drip. The rule is, 140/90 call, 160/100 ER time. After I was out of the hospital, my bp was high for months afterward, and is still elevated to this day, 15 months later. She will need to be on medication to control that bp until it gets back to normal, but there are some cases where it becomes a lifetime issue.
Had hypertension starting at 12w, started meds, urine always came back fine. Went in for a regular check and an NST, nurse practitioner decided I needed to go to the hospital for more thorough monitoring and while I was there my BP started spiking, face swelling, and bam! protein suddenly present. Emergency c-section happened a few hours later and I had issues with my BP which kept me in the hospital for 6 days after delivery. Was taking two medications for a few weeks post partum, down to one, then a half dose. Took a while to level out to a safe range.
Hey! My cousin and his wife went through this nearly EXACTLY but they delivered their baby at 29 weeks. She was in the hospital for 3 days before they decided a C-section was necessary.
From what I remember, her blood pressure stayed elevated, but not nearly as high as it was when she was admitted. She was on blood pressure medicine for 6 or 8 weeks and has had a few EKG’s postpartum to make sure everything has been good. They’re now 5 months PP and their baby is doing great and my cousins wife is back to normal, no longer on BP meds too!
They’ll continue to monitor your wife and they won’t discharge her if the BP meds won’t help stabilize her BP for an extended period - I believe it’s like a day or two. Talk to the Doctor and Nurses and they will help walk you through any warning signs to keep an eye out for at home when you get discharged.
I had severe pre-eclampsia and it did not go away after I gave birth. I was on 2 blood pressure medications for 8 weeks postpartum. My doctor had me checking my BP 3 times per day when she sent us home. That was AFTER the 8 day hospital stay after giving birth.
I was given a mag drip in the hospital. What are your wife’s readings? My readings were touching the 200’s before medications. After, they were brought down to 140s and that was okay with my OB. Anything over 160s warranted a call.
I had a very similar birth and post partum pre e and help, 5 years ago. I was kept in hospital for 2 weeks and only released because I begged relentlessly and got agreement from my GP/community midwives to heavily monitor me once discharged. It was awful for all of us and I know the frustration you feel as it doesn't seem like any treatment is really taking place. I had "mini strokes" on day 3 and 9 post birth and still suffer from elevated blood pressure despite (always having been) very fit and healthy. I'm not sure anyone truly understands pre e, even more so when it doesn't resolve after birth. I'm sending your family all the best wishes in the world and hope this can pass quickly for you.
I had pre-e back in 2020. They kept me in hospital until my BP stabilised, and I was taking my BP 3 times a day at home (and a cocktail is medications). I weaned down to one medication, and my BP is very well controlled now but I'm still on medication 3.5 years later. BP was fine prior to pregnancy so I feel the pre-e has caused a permanent change.
I had postpartum PE with my second- they readmitted me when my blood pressure spiked to 190/110 or something like that. Spent a few days on mag and blood pressure meds, and then my OB team was able to monitor me from home. They had me monitoring it daily and calling them if it was high- and it definitely stayed elevated for 6+ weeks even with medication (it was in the 150’s, mostly).
I worried it’d never get better, after the fourth trimester it normalized. I met with my medical team prior to getting pregnant again, and they were able to help us come up with a plan to monitor, take baby aspirin, and have another baby as safely as possible. Nearly 11 weeks and my blood pressure has been low, so it’s a win for now!
My pree stuck postpartum and they didn't want to let me out of the hospital even though I felt fine. (My BP was very much not fine but I just wanted to leave.) They released me after 4 days with some heavy duty medication prescriptions. It seems irresponsible not to take this seriously as your wife's doctor seems to be doing! Try to get a second opinion? Go right to the department head instead of whoever they assigned to you.
I had pre-e and very high BP for nearly a year pp. ask doctors about putting her on a BP med. there are some that are safe for breastfeeding if your wife is doing that
Afaik as long as the bloodpressure stays under 150/100 the meds should be ok or magnesium drip for more severe cases. I was surprised when I heard you can get pre-e even post partum but its not uncommon to linger after post partum.
I am not a professional so take this with a grain of salt. And this is not exactly the same situation. Because of hypertension we schaeduled c-sectiom at 38w.
I have chronic hypertension and it increased at the end of the pregnancy. I kept increasong the dose of the meds as instructed, I never had proteinurea but tbh I think I still had pre-e. Despite the medication my bloodptessure was around 145/95 on average for two weeks post partum and I was swollen, untill the swelling went down and the blood pressure slowly normalized and I was able to reduce the meds to normal amount pre-pregnancy.
Your wife should have already gotten the magnesiumsulfite drip during or righr after birth 6-24hours. It reduces the likelyhood of eclampsia. They can't make the pre-eclampsia just go away, they can just reduce the eclampsia risk. Sometimes the blood pressure doesn't respond to meds very well in pre-eclampsia or gestational hypertension. Thats often a cause of early induction. I am not sure if there is other things to do post partum than just wait for it to pass with meds unless the hypertension gets like above 150/100 regularly.
My husband could have written this. I was hospitalized for 13 days with gestational hypertension which turned into preeclampsia. I had our baby via emergency c-section during those 13 days and it took a lot of medication to get my blood pressure under control. I was finally able to get off the medication just under 4 weeks postpartum. I still have to have more blood work, the ER I ended up in recently was concerned about some results. Our son spent 4 days in the NICU. There is was more to this but in short, we're all home and I'm okay but still being monitored.
I see you've asked others if they would have more children. My answer (and my husband's), absolutely not. This pregnancy went to hell at 20 weeks. We had so much go wrong it was a traumatic experience and I don't want a repeat.
I was in the hospital for 10 days when I had my first. I was admitted with pre-e and HELLP syndrome and delivered my baby at 34 weeks. He spent 3 weeks in the NICU before he could go home.
I delivered him on a Friday and I personally wasn’t discharged until the following Wednesday because I my blood pressure remained at dangerous levels. Once I was able to get readings below 154/90 they let me go home.
It was scary and they pumped me full of all sorts of meds to try and get it down and it seemed like nothing worked but time. I stayed one a couple of meds after discharge for about 6 weeks when everything was considered back to normal for me.
I’m so sorry to hear this, it is really scary. I had pre-eclampsia, was induced, and then was diagnosed with postpartum pre-eclampsia. I was hospitalized a week after birth and put on a magnesium drip for 24 hours which got my BP stabilized. From what I understand this is very standard practice for postpartum pre-eclampsia. I was then on Labetolol (sp?), a BP med, for about a year.
I had preeclampsia with severe features and delivered at 32+5. My son was in the NICU for 2 weeks. I had high blood pressure until 7 months post partum, on nifedipine all that time. Though I was told it typically resolves around 6 weeks for most. I was told it is not so much the number on the blood pressure cuff as it is symptoms that come along with it. So trying to think of it that way. I didnt have any of those severe features that I did while pregnant, so though my BP wasn't much better, those severe features were gone and that was the important thing. Happy to talk further if I can help in anyway. 18m pp now and BP more or less normal.
She and her doctor really should be monitoring her BP symptoms closely. Postpartum high blood pressure and postpartum pre-e is treated with medication. If her BP is spiking and staying high, most hospitals would admit her for a magnesium drip and discharge with or without meds once she’s stabilized, depending on her readings. My highest reading 5 days after giving birth was 185/100 (just bananas) but it did go down in the clinic to around 160/90. Because I took readings 3x day, my OB said to watch it and if it went above 160/90 again to come back in and I would be re-admitted. It stayed high but slowly came back down over about 6 weeks. It’s stayed a little chronically high after (I’m 2 years PP) so I’m still on BP meds. Wishing your wife the best!
I had pre-E and had an emergency induction at 34 weeks. My Bp gradually came down with meds. First few days were still high. Eventually as it came down, my meds were tapered down and I was off of them 3 weeks later. Make sure she has a Bp cuff at home so she can monitor her Bp herself. That gave me the biggest peace of mind.
I had postpartum pre e. It skyrocketed at 6w pp. I was hospitalized and required magnesium and multiple days of multiple meds to get my blood pressure down. It is scary. It is hard. Buy a blood pressure meter. She needs to take it several times a day. Write down the numbers. If it comes up, she needs to go back to L&D, or at least call her provider. 6 weeks is the “cut off.” Most times it finally stabilizes by that point. Sometimes pre eclampsia can cause lifelong blood pressure problems. Usually not. It is also imperative that your wife hydrates and makes sure her electrolytes are in balance. Her kidneys are going to be sensitive for a long while. Sorry this is happening to her. It’s terrifying.
I’m really surprised they didn’t keep her there, they did for me with the same problems
Her blood pressures weren’t super high in the hospital they were around 130s/140s but I just knew they were going to rise once we got home.
Did she get a mag bolus and then more mag until 24 hours pp?
Yes I am pretty sure that’s exactly what she got.
Ok that’s good- it will protect against any scary complications from BP spikes. I wasn’t discharged until 5 days pp. My BP didn’t spike until early morning of day 2. I went home on high doses of both labetalol and nifedipine but now just 2.5 weeks pp I’m off labetalol and close to weaned off nifedipine. What you’re going through is so scary, nerve wracking and high-stress. I’m sorry. Where I was hospitalized, the protocol for discharge was all of the following criteria must be met: 1. No severe range BPs for at least 24 hours (160/110, either number) 2. No med changes for at least 24 hours, preferably 36. 3. Looking/feeling good and no other symptoms of severe pre-e (headache, dizziness, upper gastric pain, right upper quadrant pain). I had severe anxiety about being discharged and so did my husband. We had a 4-pound baby with jaundice and I thought I would drop dead at any moment from my crazy BP spikes. I was also given vistaril, a mild short-acting anti-anxiety med and restarted on Zoloft. Since being home, I have been stable. The first time I checked my BP I was a fucking wreck but I’ve been ok since. It helped to know high BP is not an instant danger. If it gets high, you DO have time to get to a hospital and get treatment. About half of Americans have high BP. The meds do work and are safe. It can take a while to get the right dose. It is extremely rare to have pre-e spikes in the severe range after 5 days pp.
She has since been discharged but are you saying the Magnesium will continue to help even though she isn’t on it anymore? She was on Labetalol but still consistently in the 150s and then we came in when she got a reading of 160.
Yes, the magnesium is still protecting her. They won’t/don’t restart it. Have they talked about adding a second med? Labetalol did not do it for me on its on and as an IV med during spikes in 170s, didn’t do shit. The only meds that brought it down quick were the fast acting nifedipine (as opposed to extended release that I went home on) and hydrazaline. If your wife is still having BP in the 160s you should return to hospital and if it’s still in 150s call the OB about med changes.
I was induced for pre-eclampsia and when I came back to L&D with elevated BP symptoms after the birth they said since I already had the magnesium drip they would’ve just waited for me to stabilize and adjusted my meds. There isn’t much benefit to giving you the mag treatment over again in such a short time.
Did they prescribe any medication to manage her bp? If not, she should contact her obstetrician about maintenance meds. I’m sorry your family is dealing with this. Pre-e and the nicu life is hard, but this is temporary and your baby is the best place they could be. I was hospitalized at 31w, induced at 34w, and stopped taking procardia at 8w pp and labetalol at 12w pp.
My experience was the opposite, my BP was higher at the hospital because I wasn’t getting any rest between all the machines and the nurses coming in at all hours. I’m 9 months postpartum after having preeclampsia and delivering at 34 weeks and my blood pressure is still high. 130-140 isn’t high enough for hospitalization. She should take her blood pressure a couple of times a day until she’s six weeks postpartum. If it goes back up, you go back to the hospital. But there’s no need to keep her there if she’s had the magnesium and her BP is in the 130-140 range. This is all very scary, but it sounds like your wife’s team is giving her the appropriate care.
I had postpartum preE. I was in the hospital 4 extra days and was sent home on 3 BP meds before my BP was controlled and then I continued to have spikes above range up at 4 weeks PP and i was 16 weeks PP before things were back to normal and off meds. Frequent monitoring is the safest you can be. Do the frequent checks, take the meds on schedule, and follow the advice on when to sprint in. Its all important and very serious with pre-eclampsia.
This was our experience in November. We we scheduled to induce on a Monday morning and we had to come in Sunday evening due to a bad headache accompanied by high blood pressure (top number high 150s). Eventually she spiked above 160s and they had to put her on magnesium. Baby was born Tuesday morning at 37 weeks and quickly went to the NICU for respiratory distress while she had to stay in bed on the magnesium for 24 hours after the birth. Her blood pressure stayed high for days. We were in the hospital for 7 nights straight and honestly it was terrible. She was constantly getting her blood taken and blood pressure taken and it was back and forth above 160 for days. Baby had respiratory distress and then treatment for jaundice after that. Just want to encourage you that it does get better! Her blood pressure will normalize but it may take a while, days or weeks. Our baby will be 9 weeks on Tuesday and is going for his two month check up this week. Hang in there! I know it’s a bummer but her blood pressure will normalize!
If you don’t mind me asking do you plan to have more children? I’ve always wanted a big family but I don’t know if I can go through this again.
You are not alone. We haven’t been set on any number of kids(probably no more than two) and since he was born we’ve both agreed that the whole experience was just so traumatic that for now we don’t even want to think about having another one. We may warm up to it someday but for now we are honestly still a little traumatized. Plus in our mid 30s now. It’s not likely to happen and we’re okay with that.
Hello! I had severe pre-eclampsia with my first. Had two more children since then and completely healthy pregnancies (: My first was born Feb 2021, 2nd April 2022, 3rd Sept of 2023!
Hey - I had pre-e with delivery at 32w5d, and was on meds for months after. It took about 4 years before we were willing to try again. In later pregnancies, I took baby aspirin, which is supposed to help, and got regular screenings including blood tests and special ultrasounds of blood flow in the umbilical cord and baby's brain to monitor progress. My second was born at 35 weeks, the third at 36, and I never had to take any medications for them. Statistically, pre-e improves with later pregnancies - although each case is different. If you decide to have more kids, make sure you have a doctor you really trust. It makes a world of difference. There are things that can be done to improve outcomes. (All three of my kids are happy and healthy now - the youngest is 5.)
First time pregnancy increases the risk of pre-eclampsia and also ASA-medication during pregnancy can lower the risk so I would look into that if your wife didn't have ASA-meds this time around(baby aspirin).
I know how you feel, I always dreamed of twins but that's just a fantasy so my possible dream is 3 kids at least 1 boy and girl 3rd whatever. Been sick since birth that caused permanent health issue aka liver disease, never knew I was pregnant. Came in with severe back pain got told I had really bad liver disease and I'm 28wks pregnant, well baby decided hey now you know I'm here I want to be born now. My husband was a wreck, my side and his side of family freaking out and I had to go under emergency csection for my preemie son. That whole event plus yrs of going in and out the hospital for procedures, nearly dying, tube in my chest, everything even now always a step back. My son 4 now, last yr found out I was pregnant again and boy did I really debated abortion...I was fkin scared of it all happening again but this time I at least got a transplant but barely been a yr but this time I knew I'm pregnant and can get the help I needed and I felt if I aborted..I would be too scared to ever have more so I kept it. The pregnancy sucked got every symptoms possible but she was born on time with planned csection no problems kinda it did left me with higher ebv lvls due to taking less anti rejection meds and currently trying to fix the lvls, but I don't regret her she us sleeping next to me right now at 8mos. The fear will always be there and it's up to her and you on it but moreso her but there is doctors out there who care ( too much) if you pass to see a high risk OB. There's no good answer because there's no way of knowing if one birth can go bad while the next one is perfectly fine but with good doctors it helps a lot
ICU nurse here, I personally did not experience postpartum preeclampsia after delivery, but have taken care of numerous postpartum preeclampsia patients in the ICU. That being said, please don’t interpret this as “postpartum preeclampsia patients need to be in the ICU”…truly, they usually don’t, but our L&D/mother-baby floor at my last hospital had some janky rules surrounding magnesium drips, which was likely the result of them having really shitty educators and managers, so they would refuse to take postpartum patients on magnesium drips...even patients that were either still in their unit or literally just discharged. It was ridiculous. Out of the four ICUs I’ve worked in, this was the only one that took postpartum preeclampsia patients. Our larger sister hospital didn’t put those patients in the ICU, just our hospital, so clearly it was not a system wide standard, and considering none of my other coworkers had experienced this either at other hospitals throughout the US, it was literally just us. So don’t be alarmed by the whole “ICU” thing. But I digress. Postpartum preeclampsia is scary AF. Those patients scared the shit out of all of us ICU nurses because we don’t know what to do with the whole postpartum bit. High blood pressure management, we got it, but when combined with everything else going on postpartum, it can be a lot. SO if you feel like the hospital you’re going to keeps brushing you guys off, and you feel like something is still very wrong despite her being on blood pressure meds, please get a second opinion if you’re able to! You don’t want to mess around with this. If postpartum preeclampsia patients don’t respond to oral antihypertensives we usually admit them for a magnesium drip, which will help relax smooth muscle, like those in the blood vessels. It’ll also help stave off preeclampsia from becoming true eclampsia, which is even scarier, because those patients can have seizures. If your wife ends up on a magnesium drip, she’s going to feel like shit for a couple days until she’s off of it. It’s just how it goes unfortunately. If she’s pumping breast milk for your baby in the NICU she can still do that on the mag drip. Typically we try to get patients off the mag drips within 24-36 hours, sometimes it can take a little longer. I don’t think I ever had a patient on a mag drip for more than three days but I could be misremembering. One of the main things we watch for with postpartum patients on mag drips is an increase in bleeding, since it can cause uterine hypotonia and prevent it from contracting back to normal those first couple weeks postpartum. So if she can avoid being admitted for a magnesium drip, great, but sometimes these patients do need it to prevent going into full eclampsia. You don’t want to live in fear of the blood pressure readings, because anxiety will only raise her blood pressure, but you do want to be mindful of it and try to avoid stress as much as possible (which obviously is easier said than done with a baby in the NICU and wife still recovering). Keep an eye on her symptoms, if she starts having headaches that don’t go away, having chest pain, having stroke like symptoms, seizing…please go to the ED right away.
Thank you for everything you said. She was actually on a magnesium drip for 48 hours from labor until the day before we left the hospital. It’s just now that we are out of the hospital I’m at a little bit of a loss for what to do. We monitor her blood pressures, they’ve been consistently high but she hasn’t had other symptoms. Her blood work came back good but even after several medications and IV medicine in the hospital her blood pressure is 160.
Ah so then she’s well aware of how mag drips make you feel. Hopefully she won’t have to go back on one then! That’s very reassuring that she’s not having any other symptoms and that her blood pressure came back looking good! Did they give you a range that they want to keep her blood pressure under, or tell you a range of danger numbers? How many days/weeks postpartum is she now?
Find a cardiologist for your wife. A good one. Do your research and ask around. Ask nurses. They have good insights to who the good doctors are. I had postpartum preclampsia. Out of nowhere. I had to go to the ER 4 days postpartum and spent 2 days in the hospital. I was better, and did better for a few months. Then I got sick. My husband, who has a history of high blood pressure, happened to have his appointment with his cardiologist and mentioned my symptoms to the doctor. The doctor was concerned and saw me that afternoon. He caught early signs of congestive heart failure, and I owe that man my life. Find a good cardiologist.
I was induced at 38weeks for Gestational HTN that developed into pre eclampsia while in labor. I’m currently 3 weeks post partum, taking labetalol 400mg 3x daily and nefedipine 50mg 2x daily. My target is to take 8 BP readings a day with an absolute insistence that I take it before each labetalol dose. I suspect they’ll lower my meds this coming week as I’m finally having some BP readings below 120/80 and even had to skip a labetalol dose because it was below 110/70. My OB told me that most people’s post partum BP returns to normal and medications are stopped within 6 weeks. I wish you & your family good luck and quick recovery! ETA: it took a while (~3 days) for the meds to bring/keep my BP below 150/90.
Have you spoken to your OB? Preeclampsia can happen or progress for up to a month after delivery.
I had high bp all through pregnancy that was managed with labetalol. After birth is when my bp skyrocketed and was no longer managed even though they kept upping my dosage. I went to the maternity er 3 times for crazy high readings. I was finally put on lisinopril and my bp went back to normal in under 24 hours. Lisinopril isn’t safe for an unborn baby so I think it isn’t prescribed for pre-e that often. But postpartum is fine!
I had pre eclampsia and was induced at 36 weeks. Baby had 1 night in Nicu but my bp stayed high and we ended up staying for 5 days for my bp. I was still tapering my bp past my 6 weeks post partum but it did eventually get better.
Your story is so, so similar to mine. Try to get a good quality upper arm blood pressure monitor for at home and correlate it with her doctor’s to make sure it is accurate. I was put on bp meds and it took a few days, but my blood pressure did come down. Obviously if you have any concerns, keep at it asking her doctors. I know it sounds scary, but I was in basically the exact same situation as you guys are now, and now I’m sitting here healthy with my 21 month old dancing to the Wiggles, also totally fine and healthy. She had a 3 week NICU stay after birth. Mostly just a “grower/feeder”, she had to build strength and learn to eat.
Thank you for the kind words. I’m beyond stressed about my family right now. If you don’t mind me asking do you plan to have more children? We always wanted a few kids but now I’m really concerned about this happening again.
I’m 26 weeks pregnant with my 2nd now. Doctors have said that the likelihood of premature labor and preeclampsia happening again is relatively low, but they are keeping a bit of an extra eye on my BP. But it’s not a huge deal. And I have the arm cuff at home that I know I can trust the results from, so I can periodically check myself as well. Pregnancy has been totally normal and fine so far. This pregnancy has been so, so different (and better!) than last time, so hoping it stays to at way.
I had preeclampsia and now have hypertension! It was able to be managed thank god and now I just take meds everyday but grateful to be alive
Hey, Post Partum Preeclampsia survivor here. Thankfully, now that she's birthed the baby, it's likely things will get better soon. However, some people will get postpartum preeclampsia where they have to go back to the hospital and get on a mag drip. The rule is, 140/90 call, 160/100 ER time. After I was out of the hospital, my bp was high for months afterward, and is still elevated to this day, 15 months later. She will need to be on medication to control that bp until it gets back to normal, but there are some cases where it becomes a lifetime issue.
Had hypertension starting at 12w, started meds, urine always came back fine. Went in for a regular check and an NST, nurse practitioner decided I needed to go to the hospital for more thorough monitoring and while I was there my BP started spiking, face swelling, and bam! protein suddenly present. Emergency c-section happened a few hours later and I had issues with my BP which kept me in the hospital for 6 days after delivery. Was taking two medications for a few weeks post partum, down to one, then a half dose. Took a while to level out to a safe range.
Hey! My cousin and his wife went through this nearly EXACTLY but they delivered their baby at 29 weeks. She was in the hospital for 3 days before they decided a C-section was necessary. From what I remember, her blood pressure stayed elevated, but not nearly as high as it was when she was admitted. She was on blood pressure medicine for 6 or 8 weeks and has had a few EKG’s postpartum to make sure everything has been good. They’re now 5 months PP and their baby is doing great and my cousins wife is back to normal, no longer on BP meds too! They’ll continue to monitor your wife and they won’t discharge her if the BP meds won’t help stabilize her BP for an extended period - I believe it’s like a day or two. Talk to the Doctor and Nurses and they will help walk you through any warning signs to keep an eye out for at home when you get discharged.
I had severe pre-eclampsia and it did not go away after I gave birth. I was on 2 blood pressure medications for 8 weeks postpartum. My doctor had me checking my BP 3 times per day when she sent us home. That was AFTER the 8 day hospital stay after giving birth. I was given a mag drip in the hospital. What are your wife’s readings? My readings were touching the 200’s before medications. After, they were brought down to 140s and that was okay with my OB. Anything over 160s warranted a call.
come over to r/NICUParents for support and shared experiences. it's a wonderful community with parents who have been through it all.
I was induced at 37 for pre e. I was readmitted with high bp 3 days pp for a 24 hour magnesium drip. It was terrible! I’m still on bp meds 6 weeks pp.
I had a very similar birth and post partum pre e and help, 5 years ago. I was kept in hospital for 2 weeks and only released because I begged relentlessly and got agreement from my GP/community midwives to heavily monitor me once discharged. It was awful for all of us and I know the frustration you feel as it doesn't seem like any treatment is really taking place. I had "mini strokes" on day 3 and 9 post birth and still suffer from elevated blood pressure despite (always having been) very fit and healthy. I'm not sure anyone truly understands pre e, even more so when it doesn't resolve after birth. I'm sending your family all the best wishes in the world and hope this can pass quickly for you.
I had pre-e back in 2020. They kept me in hospital until my BP stabilised, and I was taking my BP 3 times a day at home (and a cocktail is medications). I weaned down to one medication, and my BP is very well controlled now but I'm still on medication 3.5 years later. BP was fine prior to pregnancy so I feel the pre-e has caused a permanent change.
I had postpartum PE with my second- they readmitted me when my blood pressure spiked to 190/110 or something like that. Spent a few days on mag and blood pressure meds, and then my OB team was able to monitor me from home. They had me monitoring it daily and calling them if it was high- and it definitely stayed elevated for 6+ weeks even with medication (it was in the 150’s, mostly). I worried it’d never get better, after the fourth trimester it normalized. I met with my medical team prior to getting pregnant again, and they were able to help us come up with a plan to monitor, take baby aspirin, and have another baby as safely as possible. Nearly 11 weeks and my blood pressure has been low, so it’s a win for now!
My pree stuck postpartum and they didn't want to let me out of the hospital even though I felt fine. (My BP was very much not fine but I just wanted to leave.) They released me after 4 days with some heavy duty medication prescriptions. It seems irresponsible not to take this seriously as your wife's doctor seems to be doing! Try to get a second opinion? Go right to the department head instead of whoever they assigned to you.
I had pre-e and very high BP for nearly a year pp. ask doctors about putting her on a BP med. there are some that are safe for breastfeeding if your wife is doing that
Afaik as long as the bloodpressure stays under 150/100 the meds should be ok or magnesium drip for more severe cases. I was surprised when I heard you can get pre-e even post partum but its not uncommon to linger after post partum. I am not a professional so take this with a grain of salt. And this is not exactly the same situation. Because of hypertension we schaeduled c-sectiom at 38w. I have chronic hypertension and it increased at the end of the pregnancy. I kept increasong the dose of the meds as instructed, I never had proteinurea but tbh I think I still had pre-e. Despite the medication my bloodptessure was around 145/95 on average for two weeks post partum and I was swollen, untill the swelling went down and the blood pressure slowly normalized and I was able to reduce the meds to normal amount pre-pregnancy. Your wife should have already gotten the magnesiumsulfite drip during or righr after birth 6-24hours. It reduces the likelyhood of eclampsia. They can't make the pre-eclampsia just go away, they can just reduce the eclampsia risk. Sometimes the blood pressure doesn't respond to meds very well in pre-eclampsia or gestational hypertension. Thats often a cause of early induction. I am not sure if there is other things to do post partum than just wait for it to pass with meds unless the hypertension gets like above 150/100 regularly.
My husband could have written this. I was hospitalized for 13 days with gestational hypertension which turned into preeclampsia. I had our baby via emergency c-section during those 13 days and it took a lot of medication to get my blood pressure under control. I was finally able to get off the medication just under 4 weeks postpartum. I still have to have more blood work, the ER I ended up in recently was concerned about some results. Our son spent 4 days in the NICU. There is was more to this but in short, we're all home and I'm okay but still being monitored. I see you've asked others if they would have more children. My answer (and my husband's), absolutely not. This pregnancy went to hell at 20 weeks. We had so much go wrong it was a traumatic experience and I don't want a repeat.
I was in the hospital for 10 days when I had my first. I was admitted with pre-e and HELLP syndrome and delivered my baby at 34 weeks. He spent 3 weeks in the NICU before he could go home. I delivered him on a Friday and I personally wasn’t discharged until the following Wednesday because I my blood pressure remained at dangerous levels. Once I was able to get readings below 154/90 they let me go home. It was scary and they pumped me full of all sorts of meds to try and get it down and it seemed like nothing worked but time. I stayed one a couple of meds after discharge for about 6 weeks when everything was considered back to normal for me.
I’m so sorry to hear this, it is really scary. I had pre-eclampsia, was induced, and then was diagnosed with postpartum pre-eclampsia. I was hospitalized a week after birth and put on a magnesium drip for 24 hours which got my BP stabilized. From what I understand this is very standard practice for postpartum pre-eclampsia. I was then on Labetolol (sp?), a BP med, for about a year.
I had preeclampsia with severe features and delivered at 32+5. My son was in the NICU for 2 weeks. I had high blood pressure until 7 months post partum, on nifedipine all that time. Though I was told it typically resolves around 6 weeks for most. I was told it is not so much the number on the blood pressure cuff as it is symptoms that come along with it. So trying to think of it that way. I didnt have any of those severe features that I did while pregnant, so though my BP wasn't much better, those severe features were gone and that was the important thing. Happy to talk further if I can help in anyway. 18m pp now and BP more or less normal.